Firing on tourist bus in Delhi; two injured

New Delhi: Just two weeks before the Commonwealth Games, there’s been firing on a tourist bus in Delhi near the Jama Masjid. Two Taiwanese were injured in the firing in the walled city area Sunday morning, police said.

Two unidentified persons fired at the duo near gate number three of the historic mosque, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Jaspal Singh said.

He said the two injured persons, who were from Taiwan, have been taken to Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narayan Hospital. “We are looking into the matter,” he said.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers were wearing helmet and rain coats and escaped on a bike after firing seven rounds. A red alert has been sounded for the two suspects who are still absconding. Police have recovered .38 bore weapon and .99 mm ammunition.

Four senior surgeons are operating on the two injured foreign tourists. One tourist has suffered bullet injury in his lever, according to Vinod Kumar Ramteke, head of Surgery department of the LNJP hospital.

The firing, apparently from an automatic weapon, lasted about a minute and sparked panic in the mammoth 16th-century red sandstone mosque in the city’s old quarters, official Umar Khan said.

“All of us heard the gunshots distinctly,” Khan said. He said one of the tourists was wounded in the leg.

The incident took place around 11 a.m. The gunmen escaped through the narrow lanes ringing the Jama Masjid, one of India’s largest mosques and located opposite the Red Fort monument.

The Jama Masjid receives a large number of Indian and foreign tourists daily, the number going up on Sundays.

Taking note of the incident, red alerts have been issued in both Delhi and Mumbai.